It may happen that, upon the death of a parent or a loved one, the settlement of the estate gives rise to certain legal and financial conflicts between the beneficiaries.
Very often in such situations, the circumstances are complex and difficult to manage.
Me Van den Bossche will assist you, in collaboration with the notary of your choice, in understanding your rights and obligations, and in grasping the mechanisms of inheritance and division of the estate.
If no amicable solution can be found, Me Van den Bossche will advise and assist you in defending your rights and interests as effectively as possible through the procedure best suited to your particular situation.
For a gift to be valid, it must be made in the form of a notarial deed, with express acceptance (in the deed itself or notified separately), and, where appropriate, an inventory with valuation.
All these formalities are required under penalty of nullity, except in the case of a manual gift of a movable item (most often a sum of money).
Deeds involving gifts must comply with the forms prescribed by law, failing which the deed is void. The deed must be executed before at least one notary (Civil Code, art. 931; Law of Ventôse, art. 9). Acceptance of the gift must be expressly stated, either in the same deed as the offer of the gift or in a later authentic deed which must then be notified to the donor (Civil Code, art. 932).
If the gift concerns movable property, it must be accompanied by an inventory with an estimated value of the items given (Civil Code, art. 948). All these formalities are required under penalty of nullity of the gift (Civil Code, arts. 1339 and 931).
This is the case for manual gifts, which involve the transfer of a tangible movable item through delivery from hand to hand.
What is essential for the validity of a manual gift is that the donee takes possession of the property as owner. Only tangible movable property can be the subject of a manual gift.
Manual gifts remain subject to all substantive rules governing gifts and to the general rules of evidence.
For a will to be valid, it must be made in writing and drafted according to specific formal requirements prescribed under penalty of nullity.
A holographic will must be written, dated, and signed by the hand of the testator.
A public will is received by a notary in the presence of two witnesses and must follow special formalities.
An international will combines elements of the holographic will and the public will.
It is first necessary to distinguish between inheritance tax in the strict sense and transfer tax upon death.
Inheritance tax is a tax calculated on the net value of the estate of a resident of the Kingdom, meaning the net value of all assets belonging to the deceased (movable and immovable property located in Belgium and abroad), after deduction of debts (including inheritance taxes paid abroad) and funeral expenses.
A resident of the Kingdom is a person who, at the time of death, had established their domicile or the center of management of their assets there.
The transfer tax upon death is a tax calculated on the value of immovable property located in Belgium, without deduction of liabilities, inherited from a person who was not a resident of the Kingdom.
Inheritance taxes are calculated based on the inheritance declaration.
Assets that were in the possession of the deceased within the three years preceding their death are presumed to form part of their estate.
Inheritance tax rates fall under the jurisdiction of the regions, and differ depending on whether the deceased had their fiscal residence in the Walloon Region, the Brussels-Capital Region, or the Flemish Region.
Inheritance tax rates are progressive: they increase according to tax brackets, which vary from one region to another. Each region has its own inheritance tax code.
Regardless of the region concerned, these rates also vary according to the degree of kinship between the deceased and the heirs. Thus, direct heirs (parents and children, spouses, and under certain conditions cohabiting partners) benefit from the lowest rates, whereas other heirs are subject to much higher rates.
